Best way to apply thermal compound!

[Gammawolf]

Just had a server board replaced under warranty on a Dell R420 who subcontract out to Getronics for "Engineering" work. Jesus wept at the job they did when they swapped the CPU's to the new board.
I was wondering why the fans were spinning up under almost no load, check CPU temps and they are off the charts.. **** me, if you want stuff doing right, better do it yourself.

 

[Gammawolf]

I honestly think it would have performed better with no thermal compound vs this . Not only is there not much where the die supposedly is near the center, but the thickness this was applied at was crazy. It's like they were doing a recreation of the Parthenon by putting the heatsink on pillars

But yeah all our Dell client, server, and Compellent work seems to be Getronics. This isn't the first time i've been unimpressed by the work

 

[Gammawolf]

OP image doesn't even look real. Normal TIM spreads with pressure, yet all that shows is the original lines.

Heres a bigger/closer picture



As you can see from the picture above the TIM had a consistency of clay (Similar to IC Diamond). See the sharp/jagged break away and the way the TIM at the end supports itself from the removal of heatsink . If you ever have used paste like that you notice it immediately due to the great pressure required to get it out of the tube . Not all TIM is runny, especially at 18c. It's just disappointing that the "engineer" a) had this type of TIM on him, and b) pushed it out of the tube and thought it would work simply applied this way. Heat sink was fitted correctly, all 4 contacts are spring loaded and were securely screwed down.